Piston ring closing fixture



Feb. 14, 1933.

J. E. PORTER PISTON RING CLOSING FIXTURE Filed Dec. 28, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l Ama ia E. Pefiev cf Kip/ w @Mow: nex m J. E. PORTER Feb. 314, 3933.

PISTON RING CLOSING FlXTURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 28, 1931 Patented Feb. 14, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JAY E. PORTER, OF MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN, ASSIGN OR TO THE PISTON RING COMPANY,

OF MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF ITIIICHIGAN PISTON RING CLOSING- FIXTURE Application filed December 28, 1931. Serial No. 583,592.

Closing fixtures for clamping together a number of piston rings and holding thesame for the finishing operations on their outer curved surfaces have been usedpreviously. The rings, which have reached the stage in manufacture that out-of-round piston ring castings have had segments cut from one side of each ring to produce partings in the rings, are compressed so as to close said partings and force the rings into substantially circular form; and a plurality of the rings in this compressed state located around an arbor are clamped side by side so as to prevent outward springing movement of the rings which would occur ifsaid clamping was not used. In their compressed clamped condition the same are turned or ground or otherwise finished at their outer curved sides.

In the present invention the closing fixture is for the purpose of getting better completed and finished rings and one in which the rings will be of uniform exterior diameter and have their partings uniform when the rings are closed, the requirements with respect to which are becoming more and more severe as internal combustion engines are perfected to operate at higher speeds and under higher pressures.

Previously the rings at their outer curved surfaces might vary slightly in external diameter or circumference so that when placed in a cylinder the rings on opening or spreading slightly to bear against the inner walls of a cylinder would have their partings open varying distances. Also it has been common in piston rings for the ends of the rings at the partings to project out slightly farther than the remainder of the ring when closed so that on finishing the ring the end portions at the parting are thinned, this being undesirable as the cross section of the ring should be uniform throughout its entire length.

The present invention is concerned with a novel closing fixture which equalizes the position of the rings properly so that when clamped side by side the partings will all be closed uniformly, and as a result certain of the rings may project outwardly slightly farther than the others butwhenall of the rings carried'are machined or otherwise fin ished at their outer curved surfaces they will have an absolutely uniform circumferential length, have uniform and unvarying partings when used in a cylinder, and at the same time the ends of the rings at the partings will not be thinned but the cross section of any ring will be uniform throughout.

The invention for the attainment of the ends stated is fully described in the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a plan view illustrating the application of the closing fixture of my invention to a plurality of piston rings.

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section '0 therethrough.

Fig. 3 is an endelevation of the construction shown in Fig. 1 looking against the right-hand end thereof.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged transverse 55 section illustrative of the end bars and the adjacent rubber facing bars'of the closing fixture and the manner in which the same engage the rings.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary enlarged longitudinal vertical section taken substantiallyon a plane between the two end bars of the fixture, anc

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary enlarged longitudinal vertical section taken between any two of the remaining rubber faced bars of the fixture. I

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the difi'erent figures of the drawings.

In the construction shown, a hub member 99 1 has a sleeve 2 secured at one end thereto and projecting a distance beyond the hub, over which inner and outer clamping collars 3 and d are adapted to be placed. The first collar 3 is placed over the sleeve 2 against the end of the hub 1. A plurality of piston rings 5 with their partings all at the upper side are then located side by side against the collar 3, and the collar 4 is then placed over the end of the sleeve 2 against the outer piston ring and secured in place by means of a hook 6 pivotally mounted on collar 4, which may be turned from the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3 upwardly over a rod 7 which passes through the sleeve 2 and which has a head 8 at its outer end, between which and the collar 7 4 on the end ofthe sleeve 2 the hook6 may be located, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. f

The closing fixture of the present invention comprises a spaced'japart series of bars 9.:each of which is longitudinally recessediatdtsinal ner side, leaving bearing ends 10 .tobear against the outer curved surfaces of :tlie collars 3 and 4 (see Fig. 6) ;,and in the longitfi: dina-l recess a lining 11,preferably of rubber,"

is permanently secured, the thickness-ofthe rubber being slightly less" than thedepth of the recess. "For example, the depth iof the recess may be seventy-two thousandths-of an inch and the thickness of the .rubber sixty-r throughsaid sleeves the bars wires 13 v pass, the ends of which are permanently secured to end bars 14 of the fixture. This is best shown in Fig. 3. i p v lTheend bars 14 are of heavier cross section than thebars 9 and each is recessedlongitudinally atits inner side making a shallow recess15 which is shallower than the recesses made-,inthe bars 9. In fact theidepth ofthe, recess 15 is to be as near aspracticableequal to thedifference between the depth ofzthe recesses in bars 9 and the thickness of the liners onfillers. 11' in. said recesses or in theenample noted above, the recesses 15in bars 14 sliould be the difference betweenseventy-two and sixty-twothousandths ofan inch or ten thousandths of an inch. With suchmecesses 15,.at the, inner sides of, the bars 14, endbearing' surfaces 16 are provided tobear against the collars 3 and 4, the same as the surfaces 19 of bars 9 .bear against saidlcollars.

. A, screwyl'z passes throughupwardly ex-- tending bosses 18 formed onthe two endbars 14 of the fixture. This screw has two sections oppositely threaded and the bosses 18 aretlikewise oppositely interiorly threaded. Alrnurled handle 19 preferably is connected with the screw 17 for manually turning the same: whereby the clamp may be contracted by drawing the .endpbars 14 toward each other asis evidenti V I NVith the plurality of rings 5 having thelr partings 5a therein in alinement located between thecollarsB and 4, the fixture may be placed over the rings with all the partings 15a located in aplane between the ,end bars 14 (see Fig. 1); The ends of the rings adjacent the, partings come against the inner sideof bars.14,at,the recesses 15 therein." .Tightening; the fixture by operating the. clamping screwbrings the. bearing surfaces 10' of'ba-rs 9 and the similar bearing surfaces 16 of the I bars 14 against the outer curved surfaces of the collars 3 and 4. The rings are thereupon compressed, their partings closed and the ends of the rings at the partings located at their .outer surfaces ten thousandths of an inch beyond the adjacent curved surface of collars 3 and 4 and the rings at different points in their lengths bear against the rubberliners 11 wet bars 9. "If any ring, "when closed a'tits parting, is of slightly greater exterior circumference than other rings, it presses into'the rubber liners 11 which yields by reason offthe yielding nature of the rubberflThen by -pulling longitudinally on the rod 7 after the clampingfixture has been opera-ted to close all the rings atthe partings, the head 8 is drawn to the left and the rings clamped-securely against each other andheld in ,th eir closed posit-ionready fonthe finishing machining operation at-thein'ou-ter sides.

I Because ofthe direct bearing of. the end portions of. the:ringsattheirpartings against the metal .ofithebars 14 said-end portions :are pressed inwardly:v against any. tendency to spring farther-out than the intermediate- 130p. tions ofthe ring. All ofrthe rings will extend-at :all partsslightly beyondfthe cylindricaLsurfaces of ithe:collars 3 and 4 permitting a finishing tool orzgrinding.wheellto. move overthe .outer surfaces (of theirings, finishing all of the same tolan exact.iandruniformfexterior diameter with .all of the zpartin'gstclosed and: Without variation in the..:parti1igs=0r the. exterior finished circumferential :length of the rings. ".Alsoithe end portionsofithe rings will not project out any fartherthan' the*in'-- termediate portions of the rii1gs', -:will: not be thinned on'finishing and tlIB GIOSS'SGCtlOIl of any :ring will be uniform throughout.

The construction described is very practical and with-'it better and more uniform rings which have exactly'the same'partings whenin service in a cylinder'are produced. The longitudinal movementbf the rod 7- is ordinarily produced by connecting the 4 rod to a piston within a cylinder and applying compressed airto the piston.- ,Un'clamping the rings" from betweenthe collars 3 and 4 afterthey have been machined-is attained'by,

releasing the air pressure. This-however is no part of the present 1 invention but -is *wll known practice. T

"While the bars 9 have been shown line'd with a rubber'liner 11 attheir inner sides,

it is ofcourse to be ui'iderstoodi' 'that variations in the specific detail-may be made without'departingfrom the invention. "For instancethebars could be of a cylindrical form with the ends somewhatflarger; than the intermediate portions and the intermediate portion of each bar covered by rubbertubing;-.or the'bars could be of either a (square or;rectangular' form 'in; cross section and the'inten' mediate portion completely covered by a rubber tube-like enclosure.

The invention is defined in the appended claims and is to be considered comprehensive of all forms of structure coming within their scope.

I claim:

1. An equalizing piston ring fixture comprising, end bars located in parallel relation, each recessed longitudinally at its inner side to within a short distance from each end, a plurality of intermediate bars between the end bars spaced therefrom and from each other, flexible connecting means connecting all the bars together in spaced relation, said intermediate bars being likewise longitudinally recessed at their inner sides to within a short distance of each end, and having deeper recesses than in the end bars, and resilient facing strips secured in the recesses of said intermediate bars.

2. A construction containing the elements in combination defined in claim 1, said resilient strips being of less thickness than the depth of the recesses in said intermediate bars in which they are located by an amount substantially equal to the depth of the recesses in the end bars.

3. In a construction of the class described, a central cylindrical support, spaced apart cylindrical collars on said support, an abutment against which one of said collars engages, a plurality of split piston rings between said collars, and a contractible closing fixture around said piston rings comprising, a plurality of connected spaced apart bars, each having an end bearing against the outer surface of each of the collars, said bars being recessed at their inner sides and having resilient facings therefor to bear against the outer sides of the piston rings.

at. A construction of the class described comprising a cylindrical support, collars thereon spaced from each other, an abutment against which one of said collars bears, and a contractible closing fixture around said rings and collars, said fixture at its ends bearing against the outer sides of the collars and having resilient means to bear against the rings whereby the partings in all of the rings may be completely closed.

5. In aconstruction of the class described, a closing fixture comprising two substantially parallel end bars located a short distance from each other, connections attached at their ends to said end bars, intermediate bars through which said connections pass, spacers around said connections between the intermediate bars and between each end bar and next adjacent intermediate bar, said intermediate bars having resilient means attached thereto adapted at the inner sides of the bars to engage against the outer sides of parted piston rings, and means for drawing the end bars toward each other to compress said piston rings and close their partings. V

6. An equalizing closing fixture for piston rings comprising, two end bars located in parallel relation, each end bar being recessed longitudinally at its inner side to within a short distance from each end, flexible means connected at its ends to said bars and extend ing from one end bar to the other, a plurality of intermediate bars on said fiexible means spaced from each other and from the end'bars, said intermediate bars being longitudinally recessed at their inner sides to within a short distance of each end and having deeper recesses than the end bars, facing strips of rubber secured in the recesses of said intermediate bars, and manually operable means connecting the end bars and operat-ing to draw the same toward each other or separate the same from each other, as specified.

7 Means for closing the partings in a plurality of parted rings comprising, a contractible fixture located around the rings, said fixture including yielding means adapted to abut against the intermediate portions of the several rings and non-yielding means adapted to abut against the end portions of the several rings.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JAY E. PORTER. 

